A pretty cool new Capulet …

Where to begin….
Today I became a member of the Capulet house.
I didn’t know why. What aspects of yourself decide whether you are suited to one house or the other. Is it the way you move, the way you express a text, how deep inside you hold your feelings or even just plainly, is it a random selection? I had no idea until tonight. Oh boy, there’s definitely something about each person, something in the way they walk, the way they spoke, the way they expressed themselves in the space tonight that made it pretty clear there aren’t any kind of random selection. I haven’t experienced quite a creative divide like that before. On one side they’re screaming at the top of their lungs. The other… Not so loud. A silent appreciation. A feeling of team spirit and invincibility. The feeling that you could take on the world as long as you’re surrounded by these people and you know they feel it too, without feeling the need to shatter the spires window panes in the proces. I won’t forget the moment I was sat in the middle of the room with the others, about to get sorted. I felt like Harry Potter in his first year, although in fairness I couldn’t tell apart the Gryffindor to my Slytherin yet.
“Capulet!”
All the existing Caps cheered (or maybe it was the Montagues thankful they wouldn’t have to deal with me in yet another project? I’m not really sure on that one). It wasn’t until then that I realised just how different these two houses are. There was elegance in the Capulets, coincided by an energetic ruggedness oozing from the Montagues. A flair of power countered by an expressive display of fearless passion. It was a new experience and I really had to think about it before I knew if I liked it or not. I decided I did.
Hidden in plain sight behind the idea of competition, is an opportunity. An opportunity to learn, to act, to mature, to be nourished by a bit of culture which, if I want to succeed I’ll need to come face to face with more often. So I decided why not start now? And watched “Dior and I”
I’m not sure what I was expecting from it, but whatever pre-conceptions I had, it exceeded them. It gave me a glimpse of art stripped back before it becomes art, when it is other pieces of art that bring the inspiration to create a wonderful new idea. But the artist has to deal with problem after problem, until finally the day comes when he has to show the world what he has brought to life, quickly followed by him breaking down in tears of joy and relief .
I saw some of myself in the artistic director, Raf Simons. He comes across as a little awkward at first, but his passion for what he loves drives him further to reach a standard of near perfection. His tearing up reminded me of when I was in Mahonia. As soon as the opening music started, I could feel a lump in my throat. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t help but feel incredibly happy, because I was doing what I loved (and I got to look super cool doing it!). I think the way Raf felt about his work in that moment was the same as I felt about my own art. Pretty cool…
It too showed me how important art is. How the creative essence needed to even imagine something half as exquisite as some of Simons’ designs must be immense. More importantly, it’s a team effort. There must have been at least forty or fifty people working on each dress and without even one of those people they wouldn’t have been able to “pull it off” like they did. This too goes for our project. We will need a team effort in order to make sure we create the greatest performance we possibly can. The house of Capulet, much like Dior, will need to be completely focused and in sync, the same goes for Montague. If we can do this, then there is no saying what we can and cannot do. I especially loved how he incorporated the feeling of being Mr. Dior’s childhood garden by covering the entire room (ceiling and all) in different types and colours of flowers. Perhaps we could mix something like this into our performance? Wouldn’t that be great!
One thing I know for sure.
These next few months are going to be fantastic!

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4 Responses to A pretty cool new Capulet …

Very rarely do I really enjoy a blog for a purely emotional reason. But this one left me feeling happy , really happy.
When you pour your heart into an idea , a movement , a Scene , it is nice to know it is igniting a spark in someone who just clicks with its creative provenance .
From one night. A life can change forever , how worthwhile is the effort made ....to make a real artistic difference.... in the life of young people.

From the way you talked in your blog its very much the way I feel a lot. I ha the exact same experience as you with mahonia and sometimes when i listen to music from shows Ive loved doing or even just a workshop i get butterflies in the pit of my stomach from remembering what it felt like. The passion you had when talking about capulet made me smile, really happy to have you on board Ian x

I'm so glad that you've joined the Capulet house Ian. Even though you've been here for less than a week you can already see the love and the passion pouring out of you (would we expect anything else)! Reading this blog I'm even happier, as the way you explained being part of the house is exactly the way I feel about it!

I'm really excited to see what we can do together with this. I feel the same way as you Abby. I was just listening to "Changes" by David Bowie which was played after all the remote home performances and had a complete "aww" moment of appreciation.